Comparison of experimental and modeling results for cure induced curvature of a carbon fiber laminate

The use of carbon fiber laminated structures has steadily grown in industrial use during recent decades where the part performance is a function of both the manufacturing process and the underlying constitutive materials. This work presents an approach to predict the part geometry and internal stress state from experimentally characterized constitutive properties due to the manufacturing cure cycle. Our predicted results for the internal stress state are in agreement with that of previous published works, and the predicted part deformations agree with the experimental results for both of the fiber packing densities investigated. The uniqueness of this work is in the aspect of using basic micromechanical models to determine the dependence of the lamina behavior on the structural and thermal constitutive properties of an individual fiber and the surrounding polymer matrix. A full three‐dimensional (3D) FEA model is constructed with spatially varying properties obtained from the predicted lamina properties. The study models the cooling aspect of part fabrication after cure has been completed and the furnace temperature has dropped below the polymer's glass transition temperature. A discussion is provided at the end for the limitations of the approach and also where additional work would be needed to extend this approach to a physical system that does not follow the epoxy system investigated. POLYM. COMPOS., 38:2488–2500, 2017. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers